John Scott Porter was an Irish biblical scholar and Unitarian minister.
Life
He was eldest son of William Porter, a Presbyterian minister, by his first wife, Mary, daughter of Charles Scott, born at Newtownlimavady, County Londonderry, Ireland on 31 December 1801; the barrister William Porter was a younger brother, and the minister Classon Emmett Porter a half-brother. After schools at Dirtagh and Derry, he was admitted as a student for the ministry under the care of Strabane presbytery. He took his arts course at the Belfast Academical Institution in 1817–19 and 1821–3, acting in the interim as tutor in a private family in County Kilkenny. In 1823–5 he studied Hebrew and divinity under Thomas Dix Hincks and Samuel Hanna. Porter was licensed in October 1825 by Bangor presbytery, without subscription. On 1 January 1826 he received a unanimous call from the Presbyterian congregation in Carter Lane, Doctors' Commons, London, and was ordained there on 2 March, in succession to John Hoppus. His views were Arian, and he became the editor of an Arian monthly, the Christian Moderator; but he was in friendly relations with Thomas Belsham, the leader of those of Joseph Priestley's opinion. With David Davidson, minister at the Old Jewry, Scott Porter kept a school at Rosoman House, Islington; among his pupils was Dion Boucicault. In January 1829 he declined a call to the second Presbyterian church of Belfast, to which a cousin, John Porter, was appointed. He accepted a call to the first Presbyterian church of Belfast, and was installed on 2 February 1832 by the Presbytery of Antrim as successor to William Bruce, and colleague to William Bruce His ministry at Belfast included an early public discussion on the unitarian controversy with Daniel Bagot, and the arguments on both sides were issued in a joint publication. From 1832 Porter had lectured on biblical subjects to divinity students, and on 10 July 1838 he was appointed, with Henry Montgomery, professor of theology by the "Association of Irish non-subscribing Presbyterians", his responsibilities being biblical criticism and dogmatics, in a chair endowed by government in 1847. On 16 July 1851 he was appointed professor of Hebrew and cognate languages. For many years he also taught classics to private pupils. Later theological controversies were internal to Porter's own denomination. He led a secession from the Antrim presbytery, and founded the northern presbytery of Antrim, with the purpose of emphasising a recognition of the authority of Christ and of divine revelation. On the same grounds he withdrew, with a large majority, from the local Unitarian society, and formed the Ulster Unitarian Christian Association. Porter preached for the last time, at Larne, on 18 August 1878, and died, after long illness, at his residence, Lennox Vale, Belfast, on 5 July 1880; he was buried on 8 July in the Borough cemetery, Belfast, where an Irish cross of black marble was erected to his memory. A memorial tablet was placed in his church.
Porter contributed to the Bible Christian, Irish Unitarian Magazine, Christian Reformer, Christian Unitarian, Ulster Journal of Archæology, and other periodicals. He contributed revised translations of Kings, Chronicles, Ezekiel, and Daniel to an edition of The Holy Scriptures of the Old Covenant issued by Longmans, 1859–1862.
